How to Make Friends at Alphabet Soup
by Flaire Murasawa
Summary: "I don't even like you." "That doesn't mean-" "We can't like you!" A slice in the lives of Gem and Gemma.


A/N: I only watched Power Rangers RPM during its first run and have never re-watched it. This is an idea I had brewing at the time and I'm only writing it now because Linkara did his RPM episode for The History of Power Rangers, and reminded me of this. I know that some of the facts might not line up with details from the series because I can't remember them.

Gem and Gemma were twins. Born at the exact same time, concocted from the exact same formula, they were exactly alike. And they were both made to be Power Rangers.

They awoke from their genesis-tubes at the same time. First, Gem heard voices: "Life signs holding steady, brain activity normal…" Then Gemma saw doctors, some at computers, some staring at her through a pane of glass.

The glass opened, and they stepped out.

Gem and Gemma had the bodies of eighteen-year-olds, an age considered by the doctors to be the peak physical condition, enhanced by science to perform at the maximum output with minimal fuel consumption. They had the minds of nuclear physicists with the brain cell plasticity of children.

"Hi! I'm Gem-"

"-and I'm Gemma!"

"It's nice-"

"-to meet you!"

They followed a regular schedule. Wake up, breakfast, robotics with Dr. Edison, physiology with Dr. May, combat training with Sensei Lewis, lunch. Physics with Dr. Hanna, computer engineering with Dr. Kawasaki, testing the ranger series gear with various scientists, bed. In between that, they made time to visit Dr. K.

They liked everyone, but they liked Dr. K the best. K wasn't like the other doctors. She didn't ask them to throw balls in front of a speedometer or quiz them on the best way to incapacitate an opponent. She wasn't interested in talking about their lessons or if their bodies sustained any damages. She didn't even dress like the other doctors.

K wore the same uniform as Gem and Gemma.

One day, they overheard Dr. K speaking with one of the people in charge. There were two of them, a man and a woman, who were too important to talk with Gem and Gemma. They only talked with the lead scientists of each department, and Dr. K. That's how Gem and Gemma knew that Dr. K was very smart.

"It's my birthday today. May I please go outside?"

"No, K. You're deathly allergic to sunlight. How about you solve these equations for the teleporter system?"

Dr. K was allergic to sunlight. She was just like them! It made Gem and Gemma very happy that they had something in common with K. There was just one thing that bothered them…

"Dr. Paula, what is-"

"-a birthday?" they asked, as Gem slashed a dummy with his rocket dagger's ice mode, and Gemma set another one on ablaze with its fire mode.

Some of the doctors were all business with Gem and Gemma—they wanted the twins to concentrate on their studies, and wouldn't make conversation or play games. Other doctors were nicer—they would explain jokes to them, or give them candy (even though they weren't supposed to have any) or hang up the pictures Gem and Gemma drew for them.

Dr. Paula was one of the nice doctors. "A birthday," she said, "is when you celebrate the day someone was born by giving them gifts and eating cake together."

Gem and Gemma weren't allowed to eat cake, so they figured K wasn't allowed to either. This gift thing, though, was something they could do.

"What sort of gift-" Gem threw a punch at Gemma's head.

"-would Dr. K like?" Gemma smoothly stepped into her block, coming behind Gem to neutralize him with a kick to the back of his knee.

She didn't like toys. Whenever they brought their superballs or yo-yos into her lab, she complained that they made a mess and made them put them away. She didn't like to color with them, and she didn't like stickers. They only ever saw her working. It hit them at the same time.

"We should get her something-"

"-to help her with her work!"

Surely she would like that. They had some coins that Dr. Ito gave them for good behavior, which they saved in a bag in their room. They liked the jingling noises they made, which were much different than the clanking of machines working or the beeping of computers. Sometimes they threw them at each other. Now they had something to spend it on.

They fed their coins the pencil machine near the biochemical laboratories, turned the crank, and a large, decorated pencil came out.

"It's perfect! She'll-"

"-love it!"

Her reaction was not one of love.

"I don't even like you," she stated in confusion.

"We know! But that doesn't mean-"

"-we can't like you!"

Dr. K was one of them.

A/N: I think Gem and Gemma were treated differently than Dr. K at Alphabet Soup, because their purposes were different, therefore they interacted with different people.


End file.
